Ments



FRENCH;

LOOM PIGKER.

;(No Model.)

No. 374,893. Patented Dec. 13, 1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN A. FRENCH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS,TO THOMAS KANE, OF SAME PLACE.

LOOM-PICKER.

QPPECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374,893, datedDecember 13, 1887.

Application filed Octobcrlfi, 1883.

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN A. FRENCH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Loom-Pickers, of which Ido declare the following to be a specification.

In the manufacture of loom-pickers it has been heretofore proposed toemploy leather or rawhide arranged in superposed layers or pieces sodisposed that when one layer became worn away the next succeeding onewould be exposed to the action of the shuttle. Pickers of leather, ashas been found in practice, speedily crack under the repeated blows ofthe shuttle and are soon rendered unfit for use, while those made ofrawhide become so unyielding and smooth after short usage that the pointof the shuttle is very apt to glance. Other substances have also beenemployed in lieu of those above mentioned; but, so far as I am aware,one or the other of theobjections noted has been met with in their use.

My invention has for its object to provide a loom-picker that shall beso tough as to much more effectively resist Wear than those commonlyemployed, and which shall at the same time be sufficiently hard and yetslightly elastic, so that the point of the shuttle will not be in dangerof glancing. This object I accomplish by forming the picker of thinlayers of wood, preferably with their grain crossed, united byordinaryglue or some kindred gelatinous substance, which, as I have discovered,while firmly holding the layers together,gives increased toughness andwear-resisting quality to the woody fiber and serves at the same time torender it slightly elastic, so that as it compacts beneath the action ofthe shuttle the surface does not become so hard and smooth as to causethe shuttle-tip to glance.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view, and Fig. 2is a side view, partly broken away, of a picker for looms, the shape inthe two figures being slightly different, but both shapes being wellknown.

The picker is composed of the layers A, of Very thin veneer, (cutpreferably from fifty to one hundred to the inch,) so disposed that thegrains of the adjoining layers are crossed. The several layers arejoined together under great pressure by ordinary glue or other suitablegelatinous material, which not only serves to securely unite thelayers,but it also so enters Serial No. 109,032. (No model.)

the pores of the wood as to become in effect an integral part of themass. By crosslng the grains of the wood security against splittlng iseffected, and by means of the glue and woody fiber combined a surface isobtained of such character that it will not crack under the action ofthe shuttle, nor will it allow the shut tle-tip to glance. As the pickerbecomes worn by long usage the glue in the pores of the wood, as well asthe thin films between the layers, affords, as it becomes compacted, astriking surface possessing all the desired qualities of toughness andslight elasticlty. The glue used in joining the layers should be appliedin such quantity as not only to hold them together, (for which purposerlvets B may also be used in addition,) but as well to be forced intoand fill the pores thereof when pressure is applied in uniting them; andthe drying of the layers should be completed under pressure in order tosecure-a more effective union of the parts.

It is preferred that the structure of the picker should be uniformthroughout; but in any event the face always should be of thin veneers,so that the glue may permeate the pores and form a part of thestriking-surface.

I am of course aware that thin layers of wood have heretofore beenunited by glue for various uses in the arts; but I am not aware that pit has ever been discovered, prior to myinvent-ion, that thin layers ofwood joined together by glue possess the desired qualities for aloom-picker, or could be advantageously employed for such purpose; nor,so far as'I am aware, have veneers joined by glue ever before beenemployed for any analogous uses wherein the peculiar qualities requiredin a loom-picker could be developed.

Having thus described inyinvention, what I claim as new therein, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A picker for looms, made ofa plurality of veneers of wood, the grainsof the different layers being crossed, substantially as described.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a loompicker composed of thin layersof wood having their grains crossed and connected to gether by glue,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JOHN A. FRENCH. In presence of GEo. WV. SIoKELs, A. R. SHERRILL.

